166 NOTES ON THE 



body, six, ten. fifteen or even twenty. Eight fall, the rest fly 

 half a mile or more, and are marked down by the driver. If a 

 few stragglers remain behind, they meet their death a few 

 minutes later when they rise. With the aid of the dogs the 

 dead and wounded birds are found, thrown into the wagon and 

 we drive on in the direction taken by the remainder of the 

 flock. In this way several covies are found during the morn- 

 ing. Oftentimes the birds wnll not wait when in the stubble 

 for the hunters to approach, but when disturbed by the dogs 

 rise in a body and perhaps settle down again in tall meadow 

 grass a quarter of a mile off. 



' ' This is an unlucky move for the birds, since when in the tall 

 grass they lie close, and can be flushed one at a time. I shall 

 never forget our experience with a large covey of twenty birds 

 that were flusned by the dogs, and marked down by the driver in 

 a grassy slough half a mile away. On driving over there the 

 dogs easily found the birds, and the four of us, standing in tall 

 grass, kept up a furious fusilade for a few minutes. The birds 

 rose one or two at a time from under our feet. A rustle in the 

 grass beside or behind one. was followed by the sight of a 

 Chicken that flew but a few rods, only to fall dead, and by its 

 fall perhaps to startle another one from the covert to share the 

 same fate. This particular morning was damp and so much 

 smoke was hanging low over the grass that it enveloped us in 

 a dense cloud and rendered firing a risky thing, for one could 

 not tell just where the others stood. At eleven the heat of the 

 sun obliges the sportsman to desist, and the team is driven to 

 some farmhouse where the horses are fed and the whole party 

 reclining in the shade of the cotton woods, discuss the morn- 

 ing's experiences and plans for the afternoon, and enjoy a 

 comfortable i^iesta. 



"During the middle of the day the Pinnated Grouse leaves 

 the short stubble and seeks cool, damp resorts in the hollows 

 of the prairie, where it is not so easily hunted, not coming to 

 the wheat fields again until four or after. 



"At that hour, the gunners start again, and from four till 

 seven, repeat with varied luck, the morning's performance. 

 At dusk putting on overcoats to keep off the chilly night air, 

 and counting the birds, which during noontime they had drawn 

 and stuffed with cool grass, they ride merrily back over the 

 now dark prairie to the hotel, where a bountiful supper awaits 

 them, and they compare notes with parties who went out in 

 other directions. The second day is a repetition of thefir.st. 



